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Dexter
Dexter is the main protagonist of the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series Dexter's Laboratory, originally run on Cartoon Network from 1996-2003. He was originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, and later by Candi Milo. Dexter is a boy genius who maintains a lab behind his bookshelf, he is 3 years old, in which he invents strange chemicals, robots (many of whom eventually band together and turn on him), rockets, and a giant fighting robot (reminiscent of machines called Mobile Suits from the Gundam anime-series) which he pilots and uses to fight his arch-nemesis Mandark, who owns a similar machine. Most of his notable inventions are destroyed by his sister Dee Dee, whose favorite pastime is playing with his inventions. His birthday is January 4th, it was revealed in the episode "A Hard Day's Day" that Dexter is a Capricorn. Despite being born and raised in an American family, he speaks with a Russian accent, and is fluent in German, as depicted in the episode "Photo Finish". He has most likely skipped a few grades. Description Early Designs When Genndy Tartakovsky first drew a ballerina (Dee Dee), he wanted to make a short, square boy (Dexter) to pair her with. Appearance By all appearances, Dexter is your typical 2 year old boy. But when it comes to science and math, he is a boy genius. On occasion, and in certain circumstances, he is shown naked (with a leaf covering his genitals) or wearing briefs, and in these situations, more often than not, he appears in front of a large or unfriendly crowd which laughs at him (pointing and jeering) until he runs away or the episode ends. Even though Dexter's a genius, he still has one thing he lacks - and it's PE. In the movie Ego Trip three of Dexter's future selves (teen, adult and elderly) are fully seen, and each one of them has a different personality and appearance than the current Dexter. Teen Dexter (who also appeared in Babysitter Blues) is a tall, lanky and nerdy looking fellow wearing a longer version of the present Dexter's lab coat and boots, a pocket protector, buck teeth and severe acne (although this Dexter may be a wee bit younger than teen Dexter). In Dexter's ego trip, teen Dexter doesn't have buck teeth and severe acne, but instead, he is very skinny and has developed a great fear of Mandark and his persecutions. Adult Dexter is a tall buff man with an Arnold Schwarzenegger ''speaking pattern. He is bald, has big muscles and he has a rugged red beard that has the same curly pattern as his old hair. Old Dexter is as short as he presents himself, but he is ''extremely brittle and must constantly use a wrench-like cane to support himself - he is also a bit... senile. He also has a great resemblance to his grandpa. History According to "LABretto", Dexter was born with a large brain, though despite his parents' celebration at the discovery, they never acknowlege Dexter's genious at any point afterward. When he was brought back from the hospital and introduced to Dee Dee, he grew hatred toward her after she touched his bellybutton ("What does this button do?"). Throughout his life, Dexter always attempted building things that no kid is smart enough to build (flying piggy bank, working spacesuit, etc.), but no matter where he kept his inventions (first in the open, then his crib, then a locked closet), Dee Dee always somehow found Dexter's inventions and destroyed them cheerfully. At some point, Dexter found a big empty space somewhere in the house, secluded from the rest of the world. He decided to build a secret laboratory in the empty space, so he has someplace to build his inventions without anyone in his way to destroy them. Unfortunately, Dee Dee discovered his lab after noticing Dexter's secret entrance, a giant bookcase that supposedly "just showed up", and from that day on, Dexter had to deal with the same situations over and over again: Dexter builds a new invention, just for Dee Dee to destroy it. Personality Dexter is the arrogant class know-it-all, and prides himself on seldom being proved wrong. This, unfortunately for him, is contradicted by his experiments, many of which are frivolous creations used to achieve ends presented in the show, such as a machine built to render him invisible so as to sneak a look at his birthday presents. He is prone to believing urban myths that he is fed by Dee Dee, which often cloud his judgment, as well as superstitions. It also appears that he knows very little about common illnesses, such as Chickenpox. He also considers game shows like Sibling Rivalry to be "foolishness", as revealed in the episode Game Show where he silences the cheering audience (who cheer because his name is called) and says in a vexed tone "I don't have time for this foolishness!", demanding to be given questions to test his knowledge and performing all of the physical challenges incorrectly, losing the game to his sister who chooses a telescope so she can spy on him. He has many phobias, namely his fear of bugs and clowns. He also struggles to fit in, and the hysteria that potential social situations cause in him constantly gets him in trouble. He has zero tolerance for Dee Dee's complete disregard for his personal space, and will often bellow "Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!", among other, more extreme measures. Dexter, when shown working, is usually tightening a single nut on an otherwise blank piece of metal or a random machine. He is sometimes shown mixing two chemicals carefully (attempting to pour a single drop into the concoction below), at which point he is interrupted by Dee Dee (usually causing the chemicals to explode). Dexter's favorite character (who, within the show, is a real-life superhero) is Major Glory, and his favorite action hero is Action Hank (who also seems to be real within the show). Relationships with other characters Dee Dee Dexter considers his sister Dee Dee to be the ultimate roadblock of his life - stupid, clumsy, and inherently inferior to him, most ironically when Dee Dee tricks him with urban myths and false information about certain diseases. Dee Dee also enjoys succeeding where Dexter fails, whether its beating him at an unnecessary game or skill (such as beating him in a snowball fight or basketball), or entering a contest or quiz show just because Dexter is in it and winning (such as finding the "Golden Diskette" to win a tour of Professor Hawk's laboratory, or going on Sibling Rivalry to compete against her brother). On rare occasions Dee Dee and Dexter work together, he also rarely shows affection to her. While Dexter seems harsh to Dee Dee his feelings are generally quite justified as Dee Dee continually destroys parts of his lab, sometimes the whole lab itself, forcing Dexter to rebuild everything countless times. Although he generally shows resentment towards her, he actually shows care for her from time to time. For example, in the episode, "Inflata Dee Dee", after he finally manages to pop his inflato-suit that Dee Dee's been bothering him with for the whole episode, he catches Dee Dee as she falls to the ground and manages to save her life. Mandark Mandark, without a shadow of a doubt, is Dexter’s arch-nemesis, and often attempts to humiliate him amongst the scientific community (normally just himself and Dexter), or to get a higher grade than him. Mandark also owns a robot similar to Dexter’s, which he uses to fight him with in an anime-style fashion. Besides the robot, Mandark in depicted as the virtual opposite of Dexter: he has an enormous lab and an equally impressive number of inventions. However, he is slightly less clever than Dexter. He also has a huge crush on Dexter's sister Dee Dee, to the point where presumably in his world domination schemes he wants to make her into his queen. Dad Dexter's father normally tends to show favoritism to Dee Dee for her athletic prowess, but will occasionally side with Dexter when facing a challenge between the sexes (such as the snowball war between Dee Dee and Dexter, which he treats as a life-and-death matter in which Dexter must avenge his father being hit with a snowball thrown by Dexter's mother back in college). Dad is also depicted as unreasonably hostile towards Dexter when he interferes with a sports-related activity such as watching the "biggest golf match of the year" or breaking his bowling trophy. Mom Dexter and Dee Dee's red-haired mother; a Mysophobic who has trouble being around the rest of the family without her rubber gloves. She is rarely seen without her gloves, and, should she happens to lose them, starts to go insane (as in she starts having nightmarish hallucinations, featuring oversized bugs and germs) in Pslightly Psycho, when they have gone missing from her nightstand. Monkey Dexter's experimental monkey. He actually thought that his experiments failed on Monkey, but unknown to him, his pet is actually the superhero Monkey. Dial M for Monkey stars Monkey himself with some guest superheroes like Major Glory, Valhallen and other Justice Friends. Quadraplex T-3000 computer Dexter's computer that oversees the running of the lab and has a personality of its own. Dexter refers to his computer as "my love" or "my dear", given that the computer's voice (by Kath Soucie) and personality is female. Voice From the first season until the fifth episode of season three, Dexter was voiced by Christine Cavanaugh. She was replaced by Candi Milo for the remainder of the series when Cavanaugh retired from voice acting for personal reasons. Both actresses gave Dexter an accent and a short-tempered, dorky voice which added to his character. Milo, however, was noticably higher-pitched. Adult Dexter was voiced by Jeff Bennett (who also voiced Dexter's Dad). Trivia *Dexter cameoed in The Powerpuff Girls and in Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. *A balloon version of Dexter appears in Codename: Kids Next Door in Operation: U.N.C.O.O.L.. *Dexter's Birthday is never mentioned. *It is possible that Dexter went to the same kindergarden as The Powerpuff Girls as he is seen in the Powerpuff episode "Powerpuff Bluff". Quotes *"Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!" *"At last, my greatest creation is completed!" *"Dexter is the name of a lion, a tiger, a bear!" *"Girl, I have seen better steps on a ladder." *"Ah! What a fine day for science!" *"My hair is on fire! *"You are stupid!" *"I am not a cookie!" Image:Dexter.jpg| Dexter's original design File:OldDexter.jpg| Old Dexter, Dexter's future self teen dexter.jpg|Dexter in Teenager version File:DexStar.jpg| DexStar, Dexter's superhero alter ego dexter with his wrench.jpg|dexter with his wrench File:DexterNaked.png| Dexter naked dexter chibi.jpg|Dexter in chibi mode File:DexterSharp.jpg| Dexter in a tuxedo File:GForceSuit.png| Dexter in his eagle suit File:DexterLabel.gif| Dexter with his labeling knuckle punchers File:DexterTron.jpg| Dexter in his Tron attire File:DexterNature.jpg| Dexter, when Dee Dee tried to enlighten him File:DexterSpaceSuit.jpg| Dexter in his space suit File:DexterHobbit.jpg| Dexter, as Goldo, the furry footed burrower dexter cameo ppg.png|Dexter's cameo in the Powerpuff Girls episode "Powerpuff Bluff."|link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncxf5nCtCX8&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_619087 Picture 14.png|Dexter's cameo in the Billy and Mandy episode "Billy and Mandy Moon The Moon" Category:Characters Category:Dexter's Laboratory characters Category:Superheroes